Flower of Devotion

Our Lady once said to the venerable Mary of Jesus:
I complain that the children of the Church treat the priests of the Most High without the respect they deserve and without the submission they deserve. This is a reprehensible recklessness that is spreading more and more among the faithful with each passing day. Tell Me, My daughter, can it be considered right that priests, the Lord’s anointed ones, who have been chosen and consecrated to sanctify the world, to represent Jesus Christ and transform His Most Holy Body and Blood – that these priests are often servants of ordinary people who live by earthly thinking? Who could think it possible that a priest sometimes stands with his head uncovered to show his respect to a proud man, just because that man is rich and he, the priest, is poor? I ask whether a poor priest has less dignity than a rich man? Or do riches give greater or at least the same dignity, power and distinction as that which my Most Holy Son gives to His priests and servants?
The angels are far from honoring the rich for their wealth, but they honor the priests for their ineffable dignity. Such unnatural dealings with the Lord’s anointed terrify the saints in Heaven. In My eyes it deserves the greatest rebuke, for I have always had great respect for every priest. My dignity as the Mother of the living God was great, and yet I fell at the priests’ feet and often kissed the places on the ground where their feet trod, and I considered it a great happiness that I was allowed to do this.
Therefore, My daughter, try to make up for these offenses of the children of the Church as much as you have strength. I hereby declare that I Myself, for this purpose, even from the throne of splendor where I reign in Heaven, look with reverence and respect at the priests living on earth.